More than 400 business, labor and community leaders will descend upon Los Angeles City Hall this Thursday morning with a unified message: It’s time to get down to business.
Now facing 12.7 percent unemployment and a half billion dollar budget deficit, we must focus 100 percent on new and collaborative actions that will spur our economic recovery and usher in an era of fiscal responsibility.
The L.A. Area Chamber has published a 16-point advocacy agenda recommending concrete steps that will create good-paying jobs, protect taxpayer money and increase desperately-needed revenue for the city without raising taxes. These are common sense priorities that will focus business and government in Los Angeles on the most important job today: economic recovery.
Last week, the City Council took important steps forward on two of these key priorities — pursuing another round of business tax reforms and exploring the creation of a DWP ratepayer advocate. Our call for the City to require an Economic Impact Analysis on major legislation is also gaining traction. This is important progress, and I applaud the Chamber members who have been assisting us in advocating for these initiatives and many others.
In a city as large and diverse as Los Angeles, significant public policy advancements rarely happen in a vacuum. That’s why our breakout sessions on Thursday include discussions between business and labor leaders as well as business and community leaders on how we can all work together to rebuild L.A.’s economy. These are the potential partnerships that can help redefine our city.
The work to make L.A. more business friendly and a magnet for new jobs doesn’t begin or end on Thursday. Cities, like businesses, require a focus on job creation each and every day in everything we do. That’s been the responsibility of the Chamber for more than 120 years, and it is at times like this that we need to redouble our efforts.
I hope you’ll join us on Thursday and play an important role in moving us forward as we as we recover, rebuild and revitalize our great city and economy.